Russia to unveil terrifying new RS-28 Sarmat missile that can ‘beat any defences and destroy an area the size of FRANCE’

Moscow defence chiefs have said its RS-28 is ready for its first flight - after first being pictured last year. The missile, nicknamed Satan, can fly 6,000 miles, carry 16 warheads and is 100 times more powerful than the bomb that hit Hiroshima in 1945

By Danny Collins

24th October 2017, 12:20 pm

Updated: 24th October 2017, 1:49 pm

RUSSIA is on the brink of testing a nuclear rocket that is capable of evading any missile defence system, it is claimed.

Moscow defence chiefs have said its RS-28 is ready for its first flight - after first being pictured last year.

One official told newspaper Kommersant: "The main aim is to check the rocket’s systems at the moment of leaving the silo, the switching on of the Sarmat’s first stage and the following five seconds [of flight]."

Other defence officials warned it is capable of wiping out an area "the size of Texas."

The bombs it carries are believed to be more than 1,000 times more powerful than those that hit Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.

Most worryingly, the separate warheads are capable of detaching from the main 100-tonne missile before travelling towards their target at hypersonic speeds.

The tests - authorised by President Vladimir Putin - are expected to take place at the Plesetsk testing ground in north-west Russia.